Ransomware attacks in the first half of this year exceeded the total reported for all of 2018, Chubb Ltd. said in a report on its claims activity issued Friday.

“This statistic proves that the trend is continuing, as Chubb also saw an 84% increase in ransomware attacks from 2017 to 2018,” said Chubb in its Cyber in Focus report.

“With ransom demands growing, some in the six- to seven-figure range, it’s more important than ever to understand their function, the increased sophistication in who they target, and how to protect your business,” said the report, which stated that ransomware “is leading to a significant increase in both cyber extortion and business interruption losses.”

The two largest industry segments impacted were professional services, accounting for 30% of claims, followed by manufacturing at 23%, according to the report.

“Professional service firms are often affected because they are an email-based business with more opportunities to click on malicious links,” said the report, while “manufacturers are likely targets of ransomware attacks because they have more incentive to pay the ransom to restore operations quickly.”

The report said Ryuk malware accounts for 50% of known variants seen in 2019, while a new type of malware, Sodinokibi, which is a combination of Ryuk and another malware, BitPaymer, emerged in April or May of this year.

 As with earlier variants, Sodinokibi targets managed service providers that provide information technology services to various other organizations.

“This type of ransomware infects its victims through mass phishing campaigns, with malicious links or attachments, open remote desktop protocols, as well as using compromised system credentials,” said the report.

“Once inside the MSP’s system, the bad actor drops the malware into the victims’ network infrastructure, infecting its customers as well.”

The report recommends entities implement multiple layers of preventive measures to address the risk, including keeping backup processes consistent and up to date.

In September, Japan-based cyber security firm Trend Micro Inc. said that it detected 46 million ransomware attacks against firms worldwide in the first half of this year, up 77% from 26 million attacks in the second half of 2018.